welcome to the wrap a weekly podcast covering women's sports news bez what have we got around
the grounds this week the women's state of origin has been breaking records left right and center
australia will host the 2026 football asian cup and rose davies smashed the aussie record to the
5000 meters just months out from the paris games for the key story we'll chat about a controversial
wnba player sponsorship deal that's got the las vegas aces under investigation by the league my
name is chloe dalton i'm joined every week on the show by my co-host bez bez you're on gadigal land i
am in japan so we're virtual today i'm sitting on a tiny chair and my short hamstrings and things
do not like i'm coming to you from gadigal land chloe's coming to you from the country where
everything is too small for her i've been having to duck under a lot of doorways
watching my head at all times but eating a lot of beautiful food we've actually had the best time
we are about halfway through and it's been what percentage of your body would you say is actually
ramen it is 100 ramen right now i'm filled with the liquid it's beautiful okay let's actually do
the podcast let's take a look around the grounds so women's state of origin breaking records new
south wales blues have upset the queensland morose
in game one of the historic three game origin series would we say it's an upset oh it's been
a bit back and forth the last couple of years hasn't it i think also because the queenslanders
were playing their competition while whilst the new south wales players were coming into it a
little bit more fresh okay we'll call it an upset but two tries in the first 10 minutes saw the
blues take an early lead that ultimately queensland could not claw back blues winger amy chapman is
being hailed for a brilliant individual effort scoring
already a release for the tv sport Queen North
of the new South Wales
one of those days we were like hey let's go to the football pitch that's all we want to know
after receiving the ball just 20 meters from her own line she has a seriously long stride
yes she does when she gets going her legs and i reckon that makes her harder to tackle i reckon you
have a covered friend but perhaps the best result out of the game was off the field they broke television
and attendance records 25 492 spectators witnessed a spectacular sun-cor Unreal Stadium I believe it was a bit
a rainy day like it wasn't it wasn't one of those days we were like hey let's go to the football pitch
we're here in Inuyah not empty cup poster you know this is a two pictures home man we're in the New South Wales
out of the footy it was you know you had to be committed so i love that that was a record high
attendance for women's state of origin nearly doubling the 12 972 crowd that watched last
year's opener and there are even more keen fans outside of lang park with the game reaching a
record 1.98 million viewers and holding an average audience of 941 000 for the entire match
channel 9's free to air viewership was higher than free to air viewership for any nrl telstra
premiership match this season and higher than free to air viewership for any nfl match played
this year that's pretty awesome isn't it it's very cool landis the arlc chairman told media
the women's state of origin was extremely successful last night i'm pleased to announce
nearly hit a million viewers which is remarkable on how far the women's game has come it's just
reward for those ladies because their ability and skill is unbelievable game two will be played in
two weeks time on the 6th of june in newcastle and i absolutely
just stole the second half of your story there friend you absolutely did so let's go to football
and then you can come back to talk about the wallaroos in football australia has confirmed
it will host the 2026 asian cup this gives the tillies the chance to chase another trophy on
home soil the event will bring together 12 nations in a tournament structured into three groups of
four showcasing matches across new south wales queensland and western australia bears you're
going to be pretty stoked about some of the news coming up in the next couple of weeks
coming out of the final day of the women's super league chelsea downed fa cup winners
manchester united six nil to seal their fifth consecutive wsl title the blues edged out rivals
manchester city on goal difference and it was made extra special for departing coach emma hayes who
ends her time at the club with 16 trophies in 12 years before she heads over to join the u.s
national team in a row emma hayes back back to back to back to back to back to back
that's a lot of fun i'm so excited about that i'm so excited about that i'm so excited about that
a lot of back-to-backs also did you see sam kerr when she got the trophy and was like holding it up
to the crowd and then um her and millie did the like they turned around and did the ronaldo
situation she like did a big jump and pivot and i was like is your knee okay to be doing
she's ready she's coming but put her in ready no i am it's an amazing victory for chelsea they
were kind of dead and buried a few weeks ago and you know we've had a heap of injuries so
pretty impressive really it was that obviously that eight
win against um brighton a couple weeks ago that sorry bristol that really set us up for it
and also over in france ellie carpenter's leona once again the champions they secured their 17th
french title with a 2-1 win over psg it puts leon in some pretty good stead heading into their
champions league final this weekend against barcelona where they will look to lift their
fourth piece of silverware for the season and arsenal have announced they will make the emirates
stadium the primary home for their women's team this upcoming season
news follows on from strong support both home and away this season with six matches hosted at the
emirates seeing an average crowd of 52 000 which included two sellouts and three super league
attendance records massive how good are the stadiums yes seriously bit of holiday planning
news we are heading to brazil in 2027 it sounds like t-fat work trip here we go the 2027 women's
world cup location has been declared with a win against barcelona and the emirates team
winning bid from brazil they're set to host the tournament for the very first time the brazil bid
edged out the joint european bid from germany belgium and the netherlands which that would
have been a pretty strong bid yeah interesting and i think the most interesting thing was that
um the u.s canada mexico bid pulled out only two weeks ago which i thought was quite strange
yeah because have they then gone for 2031 instead is that what they've done yeah but i think
so 2026 the men's world cup is the only one that's been won by the emirates team so i think it's a
in those three countries so it almost kind of it seems it would be almost easier for them to hold
the women's world cup only 12 months later all the infrastructure and planning you kind of just
rinse and repeat so yeah it's a bit confusing that they've delayed it maybe their budget's
blowing out from 2026 that seems to be happening more and more these days doesn't it um but the
brazilian football confederation president ednaldo rodriguez told reporters we knew
we would be celebrating a victory for south american women's soccer and for women you can
be sure with no vanity we will accomplish the best world cup for women that's a big statement
and i disagree got some big shoes to fill after australia and new zealand
in some rugby union news the wallaroos suffered a devastating 32 to 25 defeat to the usa
in their second pack fall clash it was a pretty disappointing result it was a pretty disappointing
game to be honest we just didn't seem to click there was
a lot of mistakes from both sides really i think america probably just at the end of the day really
towards the end of the match when it was there to be won they were the ones that really picked
it up and went with it the aussies did control the first half and we're up 20 to 8 at halftime
and to perfectly honest i thought it was all over too so maybe a little bit of complacency
crept in i'm not sure but second half tries to the americans saw them walk away with their first
victory in the tournament again they're rolling more proof decisive in claiming the
victory and it's definitely something the wallaroos need to work on that defense of the
driving wall that we've seen the last two weeks from canada and america have really hurt us
silver lining caitlyn holst aka the kid made history as the youngest senior player to play
for either the wallaroos or the wallabies she's 17 and some days perhaps did the kid nickname come
from the war yes yeah when she turned up to see uh what year we 2022 so she played
23 for the waratah so she played last year for the waratahs and yeah she just started getting
called the kid and the kid stuck and she she isn't the kid at the waratahs anymore we've got
uh bubba ellis why ellis um who's younger than her but it's one of those ones where the kid
might stick forever i like it on sunday canada upset world champs new zealand in christchurch
22 to 19 to secure the pack four title huge for the canadians
huge the world number three canucks it was their first ever victory over the black ferns
and they did have to survive a late charge from the kiwis to secure the trophy um yeah massive
result for them they were obviously over the moon um and it was a deserved win they were really
exceptional all tournament the wallaroos will now face new zealand in new zealand this saturday for
the final match and we will need to win beat new zealand which we've never done before if we want
to be playing wxv1 at the end of this year um if we don't win we'll be playing wxv2 which is the
of that world tournament that happens every year so yeah look you know never say never the canadians
beat them for the first time on the weekend maybe it's two in the row yeah i reckon let's make it
happen in in a bit of car racing news um british racing driver abby pulling has become the first
female driver to win at the british formula 4 championship at just 21 years old the victory
comes as pulling also leads the f1 academy standings following her back-to-back
victories in f1 academy races in miami at the start of the month i completed in completed i
competed in this championship a couple of years ago and my aim was to break that record and be the
first female to stand on the top step pulling told itv4 i think it just shows what f1 academy
is doing it's bringing up female participation and there's just such a buzz now around women
in motorsport and bringing more participation and license holders in it's really cool isn't it
so how's your car racing knowledge like does it like f4 f3 f2 f1 i've got nothing for you is it
like it do you go do you go up the way or is it the different cars like anyone can anyone help
i'm gonna say you got any knowledge i'm gonna say it's engine size great and we'll leave it at that
because car racing is to be perfectly honest the one sport that i know nothing about just the one
pretty much i reckon i've got it in my head i'm gonna say it's the one sport that i know nothing about
a general broad knowledge of most other sports most she'd back herself in
on to the next what i know about but cannot do athletics rose davies storm to victory especially
running 5 000 meters oh no amazing she ran it's not she ran 5 000 meters at the seiko golden
grumpy in japan on the weekend and in the process broke jess hull's australian record
she ran it in 14 minutes 41.65 seconds to destroy the previous
mark that was set in 2020 this is crazy she had not run under 15 minutes at the start of this year
so that's 19 seconds faster than 15 minutes in five months yeah it's a third that's a that's
a big drop third pb of the year so she is coming in with a wet sail to paris she's already qualified
for the olympics and we can't wait to see her run there how good in netball the west coast fever
have maintained their spot at the top of the table
undefeated run edging out reigning premieres the adelaide thunderbirds in a nail-biting one point
thriller 57 to 56 oh and some good news which i think we probably saw coming is that netball
legend liz ellis has been elected the new chair of the netball australia board it comes just a
couple weeks after the former diamonds captain was appointed a director to the board so she was
kind of in there right as one of a few and they've now said you are the boss of the board which we
bigger chair than you're sitting on right now my hip flexors are getting very tight
ellis succeeds wendy archer am who announced she was stepping down as chair earlier this year
liz thanked the board for their endorsement and said she was fully committed to the growth agenda
being led by recently appointed ceo stacy west she said it's a huge privilege to lead this great
sport which has given me so much in my life and which plays such an important role in the lives
of millions of girls and young women
massive and awesome that you know as we said liz we spoke about last week i think it was
liz has kind of said that there needs to be change and now she's in there like she is
here's your opportunity liz make the change i can't wait
how good let's take a look at the key story in basketball last week the las vegas convention
and visitors authority announced a deal where it would provide a 100 000 annual sponsorship to each
Las Vegas Aces WNBA player for this season and 2025.
And we're talking $100,000 USD, right?
And we're talking, I think, yes, we are.
And I think the other important thing to note here is the keyword there
So this is like my Nike contract that I've got coming.
You've got in early.
This is not any kind of, you know, salary or anything like that.
This is a sponsorship.
I like how you're setting the story up in advance.
Aces point guard Chelsea Gray told the media they're investing in us
and so they put their money where their mouth is.
We've done so much for the city and we're having fun doing it.
It was a great moment for me and my teammates of somebody actually
putting funds behind, saying that they're supporting
and they want to have our back.
So we shared this video.
Stinger, Dom Dutoy, who does an amazing job with the TFAP socials,
put a video up Monday morning on our socials.
And kind of giving a bit of a background.
But the video where they announced it to the players was beautiful.
Like it was so cool to see these players feeling validated and recognized.
But now there's been a bit of a backflip, not from Las Vegas,
but the WNBA have kind of come in and said there's an open investigation
looking into the deal with the Aces players.
So the sponsorship keyword technically does not violate the WNBA salary cap
because the authority did not orchestrate the sponsorship with the club.
Are likely to raise questions about the fairness of the sponsorship
and whether it violates the spirit of the cap.
Are we really talking about the spirit?
The old spirit of the game argument.
So now the league has stepped in to look deeper into it.
Aces coach Becky Hammond said that the tourism bureau reached out
to all the individual players and agents and wanted to have a sponsorship deal
with all of them, but the Aces organization was not involved in it.
So she's been pretty strong in saying this was literally an individual approach.
To each player by the tourism bureau, bureau, boo, that's a tough one.
Bureau, b-r-e-a, b-r-e-a.
Becky said, I'm going to put it to you real simple like this.
Most of sponsorship people go after the top two people in this situation.
From what I understand, they want the whole team.
So they went and called individuals and their agents.
She said, I don't know the details.
I have nothing to do with it.
The Aces don't have anything to do with it.
It's odd, but that's basically what happened.
I think it's so, that's such a key part of it, right?
Like you talk about the fact that it's sponsorship and they've approached
the players, but the fact that Becky's highlighted,
that's what happens all the time.
A big sponsor comes along, they pick the key one or two players,
and then this gap continues to get bigger.
And we love seeing the big players be recognized and rewarded,
but the gap between the players that are on these low salaries
without endorsement deals gets bigger and bigger.
So the fact they've come in with exactly the same amount of money
for the entire team, I think is, to me,
it's a perfect example of investing.
I love the whole team approach.
And if we put things, yeah, if we put things in perspective
from a salary point of view, draftee Kate Martin,
who her story in itself was pretty cool on draft night,
the fact that she got drafted and is now part of the roster at the Aces.
Have you seen the footage of her blocking?
I don't remember who they're playing.
I want to say Sparks maybe.
Oh, I didn't see the footage, but I saw the photo with her
Kelsey Plum just in the background just getting around her,
just pumped for her.
It was pretty sick.
So she earns just over $67,000 for the season.
Star player Asia Wilson is the top paid Vegas player,
bringing home a salary of $200K.
So an additional $100K for her is an extra 50% on her salary
as the top player.
Asia Wilson spoke to the media and said,
when we're talking about growing the game, taking that next step,
it can't always be investigate, investigate, investigate.
It has to be like,
we're trying to move the needle.
We're trying to make things better for franchises, for players.
No, I totally agree with what Asia says there.
And it is, we spoke off air about this.
It's a bit like the charter flight situation from last year.
There were some more affluent clubs or some clubs that were willing
to invest more into their players that wanted to fly them charter.
So New York Liberty was probably the main one agitating for that.
And there was a lot of other clubs saying, well,
where's the equity in this?
And I think I like what,
Wilson's saying, well,
if we've got people willing to invest and grow the game,
it is time to move the needle.
That needs to be the baseline.
And I think it's really tricky because I get the equity argument,
but it can't be holding back.
It can't be holding other teams back from being rewarded.
Oh, Bez, give us some Caitlin Clark stats.
Well, look, I've watched more WNBA in the last,
week than I have in probably the last two years.
So I am one of those people that it's on board.
I've always loved basketball, but the Caitlin Clark effect,
whilst she hasn't had the best first three games,
I mean, she's playing in the big leagues now,
but the effect is still a thing.
According to ESPN,
her regular season debut with the Indiana Fever against the Connecticut Sun
brought in 2.1 million viewers.
It made it the most watched WNBA game on ESPN platforms ever.
ESPN said that the game peaked at 2.3 million viewers
between 7.45 p.m. and 7.00 or 8.00 p.m. Eastern time.
And it's been really interesting, just to wrap this one up,
there's a lot of videos being reshared of Caitlin Clark getting whacked
into screen or getting shut down offensively
or having X amount of turnovers per game.
It's so interesting because there's so many people who are now watching it
who think that women's basketball has rapidly improved.
And it just hasn't.
There's exceptional players in the WNBA.
Lots of people just haven't been watching them.
So Caitlin Clark is playing with some of the best players in the world.
So it makes sense that she's not killing it right now.
I would say the best players in the world.
And, you know, people are dragging her down because that's what we love to do.
But across her first three games,
her stats are better than any other rookie ever except for Candice Parker.
So she's doing okay.
She's doing all right.
Let's take a look.
Look at what to watch.
The French Open is back for another year,
and the first round of the women's singles starts this Sunday, 26th of May.
I hate that for us.
I think around 9 p.m. Australian Eastern Standard Time.
Aya Tomlanovic and Daria Saville are the only Aussie women in the main draw
for the tournament.
You can watch all the action on the Nine Network and Stan Sport.
The first team of women's A-League All-Stars will take
odd women's Super League giants,
Ozanol, this Friday night in Melbourne.
At Marvel Stadium, kickoff is 5.05 p.m.
And you can watch the A-League All-Stars in action live
and free on Network 10.
I'm excited about that game.
The Wallaroos will face New Zealand in game three of the Pac-4 series
this Saturday, North Harlequin Stadium in New Zealand.
Kickoff is 12.05 p.m. AEST.
You can watch the action live on Nine Gem and Stan Sport.
Go the Wallaroos.
History's coming.
On Sunday, the West Coast Fever hosts,
the Melbourne Vixens in the top of the table clash at RAC Arena.
But the Fever undefeated so far this Super Netball season
and the Vixens having their first loss just last weekend.
It's set to be a cracker.
The match starts at 4 p.m. local time, 6 p.m. AEST
and is live on KO and Fox Netball.
And the UEFA Champions League final between Eli Carpenter's Leon
and Spanish legends Barcelona is this Sunday morning.
Kickoff 1 a.m. AEST.
You can set the alarm and tune in live and free.
via the DAZN stream and YouTube channel.
It's because I was so stoked that I said DAZN right.
Then your mouth tapped out.
And that's a wrap.
Have a great second week in Japan, friend.